St. Louis schools re-accredited

St. Louis schools are no longer unaccredited, following a unanimous vote today by the State Board of Education.

The struggling district, which has been under state control for five years, will now have provisional, but not full, accreditation. St. Louis Public Radio’s Marshall Griffin reports:

Missouri’s Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner, Chris Nicastro, summed it up this way just before the vote:

“The district has not arrived, but clearly they’ve started the journey,” says Nicastro.

That journey, according to state education officials, includes improvements in both financial management and student performance. Mary Armstrong, head of the St. Louis chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, says the focus must now shift to regaining full accreditation:

“We don’t have a full sunshiny day, but this is a small step towards a larger step to come,” says Armstrong.

The vote does not have any effect on governance – the school district will remain under state control